Dead Eyes
by Verdantia
Summary: Valerie stared at the ghost that had once been her sworn enemy, shocked and nearly speechless. She couldn't help but look down at the ecto-blasters in her hands. What had been done to him, how much pain inflicted, to make them? An unbelieving whisper escaped the Huntress. "Phantom...what's happened to you?" There was no response from the ghost that hung limply from glowing chains.


Hello, fellow fanfiction fans! This is just a little regretful-Valerie drabble that I may or may not find the motivation to continue - especially seeing as this kinda works well as a oneshot. Depends on the response I get, I guess (wink wink).

Thanks for reading! Rated T for violence.

I don't own Danny Phantom.

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Valerie stared at the ghost that had once been her sworn enemy...And kept staring, shocked and nearly speechless. Long story short, he had been trying to convince her that he wasn't evil when she whipped out the Fenton Thermos he had dropped earlier in the fight. Of course, she had turned him over to the GIW, having been confident that they would have the most capable scientists to study and experiment on him. She even welcomed the fact that the data would be used to make more effective ecto-weaponry, welcomed that the new technology had been tested on the spook first, out of convenience and necessity. But this...

This was not right.

Valerie couldn't help but look down at the ecto-blasters in her hands. What had been done to him...to Phantom...to make them? How much...

_No_. She told herself firmly. _He deserves it. He is an evil ghost that ruined your life and would have continued to ruin it_. Despite her efforts, a little voice spoke in the back of her mind. _He may have tried to ruin your life, but does this really compare? Does...this...really compare to him causing your unpopularity and your dad's joblessness?_

She swallowed. No. It didn't compare. At all. Under any circumstances. Ever. Her dad's joblessness eventually led to a better job than he had once had at Axiom Labs. Her unpopularity had eventually opened her eyes, and she had gained a few true friends. Although Danny had disappeared a year ago...She grasped onto the thought. Danny disappeared at the same time Phantom did. So Phantom must have done something to him. He was evil, after all. All ghosts were. That was why they were experimented on and hunted. They caused mayhem and destruction and didn't care one bit about the lives they were impacting.

_Still..._She thought. Her downcast eyes were abruptly yanked back upward at the sound of ecto-blasters charging. Her gaze was unwillingly riveted on the ghost boy. Phantom. And...what they were doing to him. Several wet thumps echoed through the containment unit, and she thought she heard a few sickening cracks. Not a sound came from the spook, either unconscious or close enough. Her hands clenched into fists even as her internal conflict raged. He was evil. He was a destructive ghost. But...not even the worst ghost deserved this.

Finally the scientist had finished their...procedures. She walked up to the motionless figure, encased between three ghost barriers and two glass walls. An unbelieving whisper escaped the Huntress. "Phantom...what's happened to you?" There was no response. No sign that he had even heard her, much less recognized her voice. "Phantom!" She spoke louder. Once again, nothing. "Phantom, wake the hell up!" She shouted angrily. Was he ignoring her? Angry? _Well_, she thought slightly guiltily, he kind of had a right to be. But somehow...no. It couldn't be that he was simply so far...gone...that he didn't even register her voice. His eyes were open, at least, but they were...so...dull. The ghost boy, who had been so full of motion, vibrancy, who's green eyes glowed brightly and who's white aura shone brilliantly. He was just...gone. If he hadn't already been dead, he would have looked like a corpse. A beat-up, battered body, mutilated and maimed almost beyond recognition. Valerie didn't notice what surely should have been a disturbing reaction on her part as tears began to leak out of her eyes. "PHANTOM!" She shrieked. "Don't you dare! Don't you dare..." Don't you dare what, she berated herself, irrationally angry. He's already dead, and this happened to him because of you. And only you.

She stood there, almost as motionless as the husk of a ghost that once had existed with as much energy, as much life, as a human, hung limply from the glowing chains. Her thoughts kept going back to his eyes. Those eyes that had once shone with mischief, and action. Those toxic green eyes that had once taunted her so ruthlessly.

She looked deep into their depths, and she knew what she saw. She knew, but wanted to deny it. She had seen it before. Not often, maybe, but being the Huntress, she was no stranger to agony, pain, or death. Ghost attacks had killed more than one citizen of Amity Park and it was always because she hadn't gotten to the ghost in time, hadn't stopped its mindless rampage. Yet another reason she hated ghosts. Because of them, she recognized what she saw in Phantom's eyes. She had seen it in victims of ghost kidnappings and evil plots. She had seen it in victims both dead and – barely – alive. It always made her shiver, and avert her eyes. It was just disturbing, to see it. So fundamentally _wrong._

His eyes...those were dead eyes. Dull and unseeing, the agony lurking behind the opaque cloud and dull irises. The agony that was the sole existing emotion, the sole existence that remained. Phantom himself, his personality, his character, who he _was,_ was gone. Perhaps retreated deep inside himself. Or perhaps destroyed altogether. She shivered. The body before her was not Phantom. He was what was left of Phantom, after the GIW had done whatever they wanted for a year. And those dead, lifeless eyes were what she would not have wished even on her worst enemy.

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Thanks for reading and please review! Even just typing "I liked it" would mean the world to me! Truly - click on the box and just type those three words! Of course, more would be very welcome ;)


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